Our Team

Ole Kirimbai serves not only as our chairman but also our elder statesman of conservation, having spent lifetime working with communities and the Tanzanian government on issues in natural resource management. His positive energy and wisdom continues to guide Honeyguide to this day.

Damian Bell Executive Director

Born in Tanzania, Damian began working in community-based tourism and conservation before such terms even existed. An entrepreneur and visionary at heart, Damian constantly strives for new ways of overcoming challenges and increasing the capacity of our organization. He, along with Ole Kirimbai, founded Honeyguide in 2007.

At Honeyguide, we have always been more than colleagues and more than a team. We are like an extended family. Our unity is our greatest strength. – Damian Bell

Belinda MulloFinance Manager

Belinda ensures that every dollar Honeyguide receives is well spent and accounted for in our books. She embodies Honeyguide’s spirit of efficiency, transparency, and responsibility.
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Elizabeth Naisula MintoiCommunication Manager

Lizzie as the Communications manager, she is responsible for external communication on donor reporting and internal communication within the organization. She manages the library, videos and all other communication materials in the organization.

Samuel Shaba Programs Manager

Sam is Honeyguide’s Program Manager. He is responsible for the overall program management, planning, monitoring and evaluation. A Wildlife Management graduate of Sokoine University of Agriculture, Sam is an inventive thinker who strengthens our strategies and a rising software developer.

Emmanuel KayongoHead of Tracker Dog Unit

Emmanuel loves his dogs, who happen to be some of the best tracker German shepherds and conservation dogs in East Africa. Born in West Kilimanjaro, Emmanuel has served as the team’s top handler and is even training a team with Tanzania national parks outside the Serengeti.

Richard Laizer Human-Wildlife Conflict Officer

Richard comes from Tingatinga Village in West Kilimanjaro, a human-elephant conflict hot zone. Beginning as a volunteer with Honeyguide, Richard has developed into an expert in how to mitigate such conflicts, so farmers can protect their crops and elephants can better coexist with communities.

Alphonce Mallya Board Member

Alphonce not only regularly provides insights for Honeyguide’s board. As a coordinator and GIS expert with The Nature Conservancy, he also has served as a mentor for many of our young conservation professionals.

Petronela Office Assistant

Petronela grew up just outside of Arusha in the foothills of Mount Meru. She has made extraordinary strides in learning new skills and in assisting Honeyguide in the countless ways that never receive the due recognition they deserve.

Steven ElibarikiHead Mechanic

Steven was born and raised in Same District, Kilimanjaro Region. He studied Mechanical Engineering at Nangwa Technical College and has extensive experience in this field, having worked for 30 years in his profession. He leads a team repairing all of the vehicles and motorbikes, ensuring they are fit for yet another trip to the ‘bush’.

John MagembeHead Trainer Protection Units

John grew up just outside of the Serengeti and has spent a career in the wilderness. Joining Honeyguide not long after it was founded, John launched and guided West Kilimanjaro’s highly effective mobile rapid response anti-poaching unit and has since helped train all of our teams.

Keko OlkijapeGovernance and management program coordinator

Keko, a Maasai from Ololosokwan village that borders the Serengeti National Park, he developed a passion for wildlife conservation and the opportunities for communities to benefit from ecotourism ventures. Keko is responsible for strengthening the capacity of the WMA managers.

Kenneth Macha, Human-Wildlife Conflict Programs Coordinator

Ken, a graduate from African Wildlife Management (MWEKA) College heads up all the Human-Wildlife Conflict mitigation efforts, as part of his job, Ken brainstorms with the Sam and his team on different and creative techniques of crop protection including managing over 800 community volunteers in the crop protections teams.

William JosephAssistant to Executive Direct

William Joseph dubbed ‘Zungu’ was born in western Tanzania , he is among the founding employees of the organization, having worked with Honeyguide for almost 9 years. Zungu follows up on all court cases and also is Damian’s assistant.

Born and raised in Arusha, ‘Leh’ Martin aspires to revolutionise not just Tanzania, but the whole of Africa’s literature. As the marketing and communications officer, he is in charge of writing content for the website, articles for the annual report and the newsletter. Having majored in Computer Science, he is also the office’s technician and deals with all IT related matters.

Meleckzedeck LaizerSpecial Project Coordinator.

Well-known “Meleck” started working with Honeyguide since 2012 as Monitoring Officer in the field in Kilimanjaro-Amboseli Ecosystem. Four years now with full passion, he is working as a special project coordinator and also assisting Sam monitoring project performance, organizing project meetings and ensures that the plans are being followed accordingly.

Lomayani Komolo SimelTourism Program Coordinator

A Maasai from Enduimet WMA, he first started to work as Lion guardian in the Kilimanjaro-Amboseli Ecosystem, Komolo wants to see communities engaged in tourism, he manages all the Honeyguide tourism and enterprise programs.

RockyK-9 Unit Tracker Dog

Rocky, the German shepherd who can sniff and track down a poacher practically from the forests of West Kilimanjaro all the way to the back alleys and markets of Dar-es-Salaam. He is the founder of Honeyguide’s K9 Unit since October 2011 where he has lead countless arrests in Tanzania in joint operations with communities and government ranger teams.

Fadhili MadavaProtection Program Coordinator

Fadhili is a graduate from Sokoine University, he joined Honeyguide in 2012 as a Monitoring officer and now is the Protection Program manager. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing all anti-poaching operations in Honeyguide project areas.

Eluid KephasCamp Crew

Honeyguide field teams always camp out, Eluid is a driver and also a cook, mechanic, navigator and just good company in camp. For the larger team trips into the field, Eluid makes sure everybody is happy and well fed.

Honeyguide is a grass roots, non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Tanzania dedicated to support communities and the conservation of wildlife and natural resources through long-term community partnerships. The African Honeyguide is a bird that actively guides humans (and honey badgers) to beehives; we chose it as our symbol as it is a beautiful example of the symbiotic relationship between humans and wildlife and of successful partnerships in general.